It seems that earlier this year, Mr. Jeremy Hill of Idaho shot a young male grizzly when the bear appeared with two others in the yard where his children were playing. Mr. Hill promptly grabbed a rifle and protected his children by shooting the bear.

Since the grizzly is a protected species, Mr. Hill promptly called the state Department of Fish and Game, reporting what had happened. According to the Spokesman Review:

Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas has sent a letter to media outlets with his account of the May 8 grizzly bear shooting that has resulted in federal charges against Jeremy Hill, 33, of Porthill, Idaho.

Douglas said neither he nor the Idaho Fish ad [sic] Game Department was involved in filing charges against Hill and makes the case that Hill never should have been charged.

But suddenly, Mr. Hill finds himself facing a large fine and possible prison time for protecting his family, an action which the wildlife officials agreed was appropriate:

Boundary County commissioners … issued a news release, saying that Idaho Fish and Game officials had recommended against filing charges in the case, and that local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials had concurred.

Well then, who brought charges against Mr. Hill?

Joan Jewett, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, said she couldn’t comment on the case specifically. In general, however, “we do an investigation and turn over our information and evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s office and the U.S. Attorney makes the decision on whether to prosecute or not.”

So our Department of Justice, who refuses to prosecute things like voter fraud and illegal immigration, is tackling the really hard cases like the recent dramatic Gibson Guitar raid, and prosecuting a man for protecting his family from bears. We’re in the very best of hands.

Oh, the irony of a man prosecuted by the Obama administration for behaving like Sarah Palin’s prototypical mama grizzly!

Here we are, in the aftermath of yet another hyped up “stormageddon”. Once again, the media grabbed the spotlight and inserted themselves into the narrative of a weather condition that happens so regularly that there’s an actual season named after it. Sadly, many reporters consider this a valid excuse to stand in bad light, driving rain, and gusty winds and pretend to look brave or macho or something. (Yes, Geraldo, I’m talking to you.)

Hurricanes are nothing to make light of, as most of us know. But to make one the centerpiece of the news cycle for five days running is not just overhype, it borders on insanity.

Lives were lost. Property was damaged or destroyed. Those things were reported over and over with almost unholy glee.

Like many other things, weather happens. Please, mainstream media, please: report on the weather, the expected conditions, path, and duration. Then just leave it alone.

I’ll be writing more later, but right now, I have to get a tree off my roof.

It should bring great comfort to those terrorists who played a role in creating the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned the participation of all religious groups in the 10-year anniversary memorial services held at ground zero. He’s also barring political speeches.

A spokesman for the mayor said, “The mayor insists that the ceremonies should focus on the families of those killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.”

News Flash for the mayor: My guess is every victim of the attack and their family members, along with the vast majority of those of us who watched the horror unfold prayed to our God in our own way on September 11th, 2001 and it’s my guess that prayer would bring as much comfort to these families today as it did then. But God Bloomberg forbid we should allow the anniversary to include an organized approach to a non-denominational group prayer at ground zero itself.

In the days after the attack, then-mayor Rudy Giuliani held an interfaith service at Yankee Stadium. There was no problem and no great organized protest. We went there en-masse to mourn together… and to begin the healing process together.

And it worked. People from all walks of life, all religions poured into Yankee Stadium… and poured their hearts out in public. Together as one big family. It not only brought comfort to all those who attended, but to the millions who watched the live coverage on TV. But that was then and this is now, right Mayor Bloomberg? At the time, we just didn’t realize we might be offending the very people who attacked us. What were we thinking?

Ten years on, the original Yankee Stadium has been razed by what some call “progress.” And, ten years on, apparently American pride, common sense, compassion and a sense of “We Are All One Family” has been replaced by political correctness and the sycophants of stupidity, led by one Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City.

To Mayor Bloomberg: You are supposed to be a leader. Yet in this case, you show none of the leadership characteristics Rudy Giuliani did in the days immediately following the attack. Worse, by yielding to the parasites of political correctness, you show little of the kind of “Stand your ground” patriotism so desperately needed in today’s world. Did you learn nothing from the lessons left by your European ancestors from World War II?

This writer was born and raised in the Boston area (as was Bloomberg). As such, it was always

Red Sox before Yankees

Patriots before Jets

Celtics before Knicks and

Bruins before Islanders

But we all came together and mourned as one on 9/11. And, God willing (and to hell with Michael Bloomberg), I will join hands with my New York brothers and sisters in solidarity at ground zero on 9/11/11. And there will be prayers in many languages, representing every religious denomination. Because that’s what people do at a time like this. Unlike cowards who yeild to those who would bully them into submission.

Edmund Burke said it succinctly: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” But in this writer’s mind, perhaps, the biggest evil to be committed this September 11th would be to prevent good men and women from doing something meaningful to all, at a place called “Ground Zero” in NYC.

Shame on you, Michael Bloomberg. You are truly a gutless coward, sending the terrorists behind 9/11 (and their followers) the best message they could ask for: “You Won. We won’t pray, because we don’t want to offend you.(But hey, feel free to tie up the streets of Manhattan several times a day so you can pray towards Mecca).” Yes, this is the same Mayor Bloomberg who, on May 28th last year, defended the building of the Muslim Mosque so close to ground zero, saying at the time that he felt the government “shouldn’t be in the business of picking” one religion over another. But by banning all religious groups at Ground Zero while defending the Mosque, that is precisely what he is doing.

How pathetic Mayor Bloomberg. How pathetic.

Perhaps that earthquake in Virginia earlier in the week was caused by the soldiers in the Arlington National Cemetary rolling over in their graves in disgust at what we have for “leaders” in America today. And who could blame them?

You’re liberal; an academic, perhaps, or a writer/journalist/opinion-shaper of some sort. You spout the liberal line (I’m not really sure whether you really believe it, or just realize that it’s a good gig that pays well) to your adoring audience, who gobble it up and regurgitate it to others ad nauseum.

This I can deal with.

What I cannot deal with, what I cannot comprehend, is the dangerous mentality that sometimes accompanies basic liberal elite thinking. The mentality that actively wishes harm on our country and its citizens–all in the name of progress, of course.

“Casualty figures are often high-ranged at the outset, dropping as the smoke and water clears. But any number substantially higher than 3,000 dead presents a political and symbolic dilemma for the most avid advocates of the War on Terror…”

3,000 dead seems to be the cut-off point between simple politics and deep symbolism for Wolcott.

In line right behind Wolcott is Joel Stein, who famoulsy wrote in the LA Times that he doesn’t support the troops:

I don’t support our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car…

“…[W]hen you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you’re not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you’re willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse.

Our latest entrant into this cadre of evil-wishing liberals is the despicable Paul Krugman, whose Tweet yesterday wishing that the East Coast earthquake had been far worse, was apparently a hoax…

…[T]here was a “Twilight Zone” episode like this in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace. Well, this time, we don’t need it, we need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus.

Really, what in the heck is the matter with you people? If government would get out of the way, there are plenty of folks who are just itching to expand, hire, start new businesses, and do all the things that are really necessary to get our economy back on its feet.

People who wish for disasters and actively scorn those stalwarts who keep this nation safe are the dregs of the dregs, and why they have such public platforms to spout their opinions, I really couldn’t say.

But am I out of line by gently hoping that their chosen disaster comes and gets them personally?

Let’s be fair here. The President must be exhausted. And why not? Consider:

He’s just spent 3 solid days on board one of the most luxurious buses you and I could possibly pay for.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but did he get even ONE round of golf in during the past 3 days? I don’t think so.

"Greyhound One"

It gets worse: The travel agency that booked this 3-day tour – for some reason – did NOT book him into any urban areas where blacks and Hispanics are suffering from unemployment rates as much as two or three times the national average. I know how disappointing that must have been for him to have the travel agency neglect to have those areas represented. As that hilarious giant of the comedy world, Janeane Garbagefellow, would say (probably on Bill Mahr’s show), “This is racism… straight up!”

What’s that? The Obama administration set the itinerary? Oh… well, I’m sure there was a good reason the President didn’t want to speak to blacks and Hispanics from the inner cities most affected by his failed economic policies.

But as the President would surely point out, the real problem here, folks, is you and I.

You see, when the President said he was going on a “listening tour,’ you and I mistakenly thought he meant HE would listen to US. But as we all saw the other day, that was clearly a miscommunication: when a member of the tea party asked the POTUS his views on Vice President Biden referring to tea party members as “terrorists,” after a brief exchange, Obama walked away saying, “You obviously don’t want to listen…” (emphasis mine).

And therein lies the crux of the problem. During those three days, Obama was the one who did the vast majority of the talking, expecting the crowd to simply listen and accept. In other words, this was a political campaign trip in taxpayer-funded sheep’s clothing… aboard some mighty expensive luxury buses.

Net results: zero jobs created or saved in the US, a bunch of jobs created or saved in Canada to outfit some very expensive (and taxpayer-paid) buses. Apparently all because we didn’t want to listen. Got that?

And now we’re upset because Obama is taking the rest of August off on vacation? Maybe we should re-think our logic here.

As Erick Erickson wrote at Redstate this morning in his “Open Letter To Anyone Who Thinks Obama Should Not Go On Vacation” :

“Mr. President, you take as much vacation as you want. In fact, if you want to leave the country and go visit your relatives in Kenya or just go for a safari or go see your old stomping grounds in Indonesia or, heck, take the family to see penguins in Antarctica or even go to Bora Bora, I’d be glad to have you take say . . . the next twelve months off.

“And even better, I’m sure we can find some people to fund your vacation other than the American taxpayers who you’ve been using to fund your political campaign bus tour.”

I have to agree with Erick but with one caveat: Please… oh please... take Joe Biden with you.

Serial art plagiarist Shepard Fairey, the man responsible for stealing a photo and making it an icon, was attacked last weekend in Copenhagen after he failed to understand that history has meaning.

Fairey had been in the city creating a series of “street art” murals on the sides of buildings. The Guardian reports:

“The LA-based artist believes the attack was sparked by a misunderstanding over his mural commemorating the demolition of the legendary “Ungdomshuset” (youth house) at Jagtvej 69… Fairey’s installation, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, depicted a dove in flight above the word “peace” and the figure “69”…

“Within a day of completion, the mural was vandalised by protesters, with graffiti sending messages of “no peace” and “go home, Yankee hipster“. Fairey subsequently collaborated with former members of the 69 youth house to redecorate the lower half of the installation. His new version contains images of riot police and explosions, together with a new, more combative slogan: ‘Nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven’.” [emphasis mine–what a magnificent phrase!]

But even after that capitulation, some residents were not happy with the American “artist”. At a subsequent party, Mr. Fairey and a friend were accosted by a youth; in the resulting scrum, the Yankee hipster received a black eye and some bruises.

While he declined to file a police report because he was fearful of bad press–“not-so-street artist whiner Shepard Fairey can’t hold it down in a fight so he snitches to the cops“–he promptly whined to that same press by penning a nearly 3,000-word screed at the Huffington Post, which amazingly contains the following line:

“I grew up in skateboarding and punk rock, which are both incredibly creative…”

That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Mr. Fairey’s outlook, and I strongly suggest that you avoid reading the rest of the self-righteous screed at all costs. The article, of course, doesn’t tell you about Fairey’s lack of talent, or his career history of plagiarsim, stealing the work of real artists, branding it as his own with no attributions, and laughing all the way to the bank. For a fascinating expose of his trail of plagiarism, see this scathing and in-depth critique of his work.

The people who attacked Mr. Fairey clearly were wrong and should not have done so. However…

Allen West, who is one of our very favorite Tea Party Congressmen, had a General Anthony McAuliffe moment yesterday, when he gave a pithy one-word response to the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ request that he stop associating with Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Joe Kaufman, and Joyce Kaufman, and others whom the Hamas-linked group considers to be anti-Islamic extremists (which, entre nous, they are not).

“When I first saw that, I wasn’t sure if he was calling me nuts, or he was calling my concerns nuts.”

Rep. West’s response also confused those reporters assigned to write about the incident. Miami’s local CBS station reports:

West has not fully explained his position, but in other letters to CAIR Florida, he has said he is neither anti-Islamic nor anti-Muslim.

Then CBS4 News discovered that during World War II, General Anthony McAuliffe famously wrote a one-word letter to the Germans in response to a surrender ultimatum. The word used: “Nuts!” [emphasis mine]

Discovered? Isn’t that the kind of thing reporters should know about–or at least be willing to find out about before they file a story? Shouldn’t they be up on historical references? Did none of them watch Band of Brothers? Better yet, isn’t this be the kind of thing that should still be taught in schools?

In one fell swoop, Rep. West made the whiners at CAIR look like ill-educated rubes, and proved to the country once again that he is an intelligent and worthy leader.